


I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight

by Sullen



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance, Soft Tony, bad boy bucky, nerd tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-01 09:21:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17241647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sullen/pseuds/Sullen
Summary: Bad boy Bucky and Nerd Tony crash into each other, literally and figuratively.Okay, look, it’s not James’ fault, no matter what the rumors say. The guy was so scrawny he could be blown over by the wind. This is a crowded hallway! If you don’t want to get knocked over, you should keep some meat on your bones, your stance wide, and not run around corners and into him.High School AU.





	I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheMaroonRedWolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMaroonRedWolf/gifts).



"It's fractured." 

Everyone looked at Bucky. 

Okay, look, it’s not James’ fault, no matter what the rumors say. The guy was so scrawny he could be blown over by the wind. This is a crowded hallway! If you don’t want to get knocked over, you should keep some meat on your bones, your stance wide, and not run around corners and into him. 

Though the way the kid bounced off of him and to the floor was kinda funny. 

Wide, doe brown blinked up at him from the floor. Pink lips, far too pretty to exist on a boy and olive complexion completed the look. Sprawled on the floor, he looked smaller than he should and the baby face didn't help. 

Bucky contemplated leaving the guy there on the floor-for a sec! just stepping over him and leaving. Then he heaved a deep sigh and crouched slightly to grab hold of the guy's shoulder and pulled him up. To his amusement, the other boy came up only to his chin. 

A muffled cry of pain came from the boy causing the rest of the people in the school hallway to give them wary looks and a wide berth. To their credit they did shoot looks of concern at the kid. But nothing was worth going up against James Barnes. It didn't please Bucky as much as it should. 

"You alright?" Bucky asked gruffly. 

The kid just looked at him with a frozen deer in the headlights stare. Bucky resisted shaking the kid to see if any words fell out. He looked a little like a cartoon animal, particularly that one from the old movie his sisters used to watch. "Bambi? You okay?" 

The kid sputtered weakly. "My name's not Bambi!" 

"Yeah," Bucky said slowly. "Too bad. Now it is." He slid his hand slowly from Bambi's shoulder to the back of neck and gripping firmly, pushed him towards the school nurse's office. The squeaking sounds from the kid only made him smile darkly. 

\------------- 

"Oh James," Winifred Barnes said wearily. 

"I know, Ma." 

"The poor boy. Couldn't you have watched where you where going James?" 

Bucky gave her a dark look. "Me? That kid was the one galloping around on his newborn legs. Doesn't his mother feed him?" 

"I've met Maria Stark once or twice and I'm sure she does her best. Just like I do with you." Winifred said pointedly. 

Bucky didn't say anything. He might be the terror of Shield High but at home, his mother reigned supreme. 

"Are you in trouble?" Winifred continued. "Are you going to be suspended?" 

"No," Bucky grumbled. "Bambi told them it was an accident." That wasn't going to stop the rumours of course. Bucky's reputation preceded him. 

"Bambi?" His mother asked in amusement. 

"Yeah," Bucky's dark scowl melted to amusement. "He's all tiny and coltish. Skittish too. Like a newborn babe. Has the brown hair and eyes to match too." 

"James," Winifred scolded, but her lips were twitching. "I hope you're going to make it up to the poor boy." 

Bucky's scowl was back. "I didn't do nothing! It's not my fault. I took him to the nurse and that's more than enough. I'm done." 

And he meant it. Until he saw Bambi's hand in a cast and sling and struggling with his books at his locker. 

"Not a lefty huh?" He muttered as he came up behind. Bambi yelped and crashed into the lockers, setting off a racket. Kid had better not break his other arm. Bucky was not taking the rap for another one. 

"Where did you come from?" Bambi gasped. Bucky didn't say anything. "Yes, I-I'm right handed." 

It was the right hand that he had fallen on after bouncing off Bucky and it was now encased in a pristine white cast and a sling to support it. 

"I thought the doc said a sling would do?" Bucky wondered aloud. 

Bambi flushed. "Yeah, but then they took an X-ray and said a cast would be better..." 

"Hmm, tough luck Bambi." 

"Bambi!!? My name is Tony!" 

"Huh? Sure." 

"Mr Stark," Sitwell, the shittiest teacher to ever shit or teach in Shield High, stopped next to them. "I hope you know that having a fractured arm is no excuse for delaying your homework. I expect it all on time. No excuses." 

"His arm is broken," Bucky objected before Tony could say a word. "How is he supposed to write or type?" 

Sitwell looked at him like he was the toilet paper clinging to his shoe. Bucky didn't let it bother him. He slowly unfolded from his slouch, casually looming over the teacher and looking down at him. Being as tall or taller than most teachers gave him a hell of an advantage. 

"His arm is _fractured_ , not broken." Sitwell sneered. "I would have thought you of all people were aware of the distinction." _Dammit_. He turned back to Tony. "No extensions." Couldn't the asshole see that Bambi's fingers was barely poking out of the cast? It was cute as fuck but probably not very efficient. 

"I understand," Tony said woodenly. 

Sitwell nodded and turned on his heel. Bucky nobly restrained from tripping him. "What work do you have to do for his class? What class of his are you in anyway?" 

Tony flushed as he answered, "I'm in his AP class." He fidgeted and blushed but then he straightened and tilted his chin up to meet Bucky's gaze defiantly. 

Amused, Bucky reflected this bravado was probably because _most_ if not _all_ of Tony's classes were probably Advanced Placement. "I'll help you do the work," Bucky offered generously. 

"You?" Tony sputtered. "Umm- no offense but I can handle it myself...I know I said I'm right handed but..." His speech coloured with panic trailed off as Bucky loomed over him. As he leaned forward, Tony pressed his back against the lockers to avoid their bodies being pressed flush. With a small bang, Bucky slammed his hand against the locker right above and to the left of Tony's head. 

"Are you saying I'm not smart? Too dumb to help you do your homework?" Bucky asked menacingly. Tony blushed from the proximity and as Bucky watched the red spread to his neck he idly wondered how far down it went. They were so close Bucky could almost feel that heat on his own skin. 

"I'm saying that while you're smart, you are not as smart as me." Tony pressed his lips together, probably expecting rebuke for mouthing off to the most notorious boy in high school. 

Bucky snorted and then laughed. Stark had balls. "I'm not doing your homework for you. You tell me and I'll write. Or type. And I'm not doing all of it." 

Bucky watched the kid think about it and it was obvious from the glance down to his books that he had a lot of work. "Okay," Bambi said cautiously. "How do you plan on doing this?" 

"One hour at your house. Just one hour. No more." 

" _My_ house? Uh...um, sure. D-deal," Bambi stuttered. "Let me give you the address." 

"No need," Bucky drawled. "I'll find it." 

\------------- 

"I need Tony Stark's address." 

Laura gave him a look. "What do you need that boy's address for?" 

"I'm helping him with his homework." 

Clint burst out laughing, the bastard. "You're _helping him with homework_?" Even Steve was suppressing a smile, the traitor. 

"I'll be doing stuff he can't, that's all." Bucky snapped. 

"Like what? He could probably build a robot to do what you could do to help him. And the robot would be smarter than you." 

"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you," Bucky said flatly. 

"I'm just saying man," Clint continued with raised hands. "I heard he was in a special school before he transferred here. Schools for those kids that end up in college a few years early. You know- geniuses." 

"Really?" Laura asked skeptically. "Then why is he in a normal grade for his age?" 

"He's a year ahead," Steve objected. 

"That's nothing," Natasha scoffed. "It's hardly genius level." 

Clint shrugged. His information could be hit or miss at times. Laura had gone behind the desk and was typing on the computer. She worked part-time at school and was Clint's girlfriend. This would have made Clint legendary at school but it didn't because no one really believed it and Clint himself attended classes so rarely that people had a hard time remembering he went to this school. 

After much groaning and heaving, the computer finally displayed the address and the printer started slowly and resentfully printing it. It would have had taken less time to copy it down by hand. Fury's office door remained firmly shut, so the principle had already left for the day or he would have come storming out by now and tried to expel them for loitering in the office area. 

"Here," Laura handed him a sheet of printer paper. Bucky glanced at it as he mumbled his thanks and then at his watch. Time to go. 

\------------- 

Tony fumbled at the door with his key. He pushed open the door of his house open and raced down the hallway. He then raced back to the main door, threw it open and struggled to remove the key from the lock where he had left it in his hurry. Tony then resumed rushing down the hall, up the stairs, into his room, whose door he slammed shut and finally threw himself facedown on his bed and screamed his feelings into his pillow. 

All this (except the last part) his mother watched bemusedly. 

Tony raised his head and looked around his room. It was a _mess_. He _could not_ let _ **Bucky Barnes**_ see this! There were way too many action figures lying around. Tony bought an action figure everytime he felt sad, so there were a lot. He used to blow things up instead but after a plea from his mother, he stopped. 

But Bucky-Barnes- _Bucky_ would think he was a child. There was also a deplorable amount of underwear scattered around the room. Some had Batman on it! Why did it have to Bucky Barnes who fractured his arm? Why did he have to be nicer than his reputation suggested and _offer help? Why did Tony have to accept?_

Tony knew the answer to the last part. When Bucky had offered to help, polite refusal had been on Tony's lips. Instead what had come out was acceptance after some pathetic hesitation (if it could even be called that). He had seen Bucky around school, one of the tallest and handsomest boys. He was never scared of anything, not even the teachers. The teachers seem to have given up on him and some of them seemed a little wary of him. He answered insolently if a teacher tried to call him out. The entire cheerleaders team flirted with him, even the ones with boyfriends. All the girls giggled when he walked by and the boys got out of his way. No one at school picked on him, not even the football team. And if Bucky was in a fight, he won it; he won every one of them. 

And he hadn't even needed Tony's address! How was he so cool??! 

Okay, Tony could handle this. He could be cool too. Well, he could be tepid. He could fix this. He could clean his room, push the mess and old laptop detritus somewhere and clear any other incriminating stuff. It would have the bonus of making his mother happy. He would google 'how to stop blushing'. Bucky would probably grow tired of helping him after a couple of days and stop coming over. 

But first- Tony took a deep breath and pushed his face into the pillow and let out another scream. 

\------------- 

"James, isn't it?" Maria asked the handsome boy on her stoop. He had the looks of an old fashioned movie star. 

The boy smiled charmingly at her. "Yes, ma'am." 

Well, that explained Tony acting like a madman. Maria resisted the urge to tell this leather jacket wearing boy that on no account the bedroom door should be closed, otherwise she would have a thing or two to tell Winifred Barnes. But then again, Maria thought, softening, that the Barnes' had had a tough few years. No doubt their only son had taken things hard. Maria knew a thing or two about using clothes and attitude as armour. 

And there was no need to embarrass Tony, who, after what had happened at his last school, was struggling to make friends in the new one. Friendships and groups had been formed years beforehand which made things tough for a newcomer. 

"Come on up," Maria said as she led him to Tony's room. Which was clean. She smiled as she remembered how warily Tony had looked at her as she observed his room in shock. When she faintly asked him why he was looking at her so, he had replied that he hoped the sight of his neatened room didn't give her a heart-attack as she always threatened. A light slap on the back of his head had been the result of that witticism. 

"Would you boys like anything to eat or drink?" The Barnes boy very politely declined for someone sprawled so insolently on a bed. Tony looked at her with his lovely brown eyes and said, "Coffee." 

As she descended the stairs, Maria heard the murmur of conversation behind her, and wondered sadly why she was remembering Howard. 

\------------- 

"Okay, Shitwell's homework first, right?" 

Tony blinked at him. "It's _Sitwell_." 

"Is it?" Bucky asked airily and was pleased when Tony laughed. Well, test audiences had been polled and Shitwell was Sitwell's new name. He couldn't believe no one had thought of it before. _It was so obvious._

"It's just a worksheet," Tony said as he handed it to him. 

Bucky riffled through the multiple pages. "The hell is this?" 

Tony sat beside him. "Fifty problems on integrating exponential and trigonometric functions." 

Oh yeah, Shitwell it was. "Looks Greek to me." Bucky muttered. 

"No that's later." Bucky looked at him in horror. Greek? He didn't even know Shield High offered Greek as an elective! Shit, did Greek use the english alphabet or-and the kid was laughing. "I cn't believe-" Tony giggled, "The look on your face!" 

The look on Bucky's face should have stopped the laughter but nope. He tried maintaining a cold silence but Tony's laughter was very sweet. And Bambi apparently did have balls. Who knew? Tony had flopped on the bed on his non-injured side and was curled into a ball, hiccuping slightly. Lips twitching Bucky nudged him with his sneaker. "You'll pay for that." 

"You already fractured my arm," Tony sat up and said jauntily. 

Bucky wanted to smile at kid's confidence which he had not been expecting but he couldn't help but wince at the remark. 

An awkward silence descended in the room. Bucky picked up the papers and flipped through them again. "So where do we start?" 

Tony handed him a pen. "We have to show our work," he explained. "Just write what I tell you." 

Bucky took the pen doubtfully. "What if you make mistakes?" There was a moment of silence. Then, "It's simple problems. Beginners ones. They just look tough." 

Bucky readied his pen. "Okay, first problem," Tony started, squinting down at the paper. "Um, integral...no no the sign-that one, that's called integral...e raised to x, bracket, x minus..." 

Tony went on and on, barely pausing. "Next, um, lets see, integral sign, upper limit 1-" Bucky squinted at him. "That's when, uh, the upper limit is written at the top of integral sign like, like 'raised to' you know? Okay, lower limit is 0...same, at the bottom. No, at the front of the of the sign not the back. Thirteen e raised to minus four x..." 

Maria entered with a tray loaded with cookies and a cup and a couple of glasses. Bucky sat up, relieved for a break. This homework shit made him feel _so stupid_. He could barely read the equations. It was all he could do to keep the blush of embarrassment off his skin as Tony kept correcting and guiding him. 

"I got you some apple juice James," Maria said. "And some water. Tony, here's your coffee." 

"Coffee?" 

Tony paused with the cup to lips. "Yeah?" 

"Aren't you a little young to be drinking coffee?" 

Maria laughed. "Thank you James. I've been trying to tell him that years." 

" _Years?_ Well, no wonder," Bucky raked his eyes over Tony's figure. 

"What? What?" Bambi asked as the flush raised in his cheeks. 

"You know if you give coffee to kids it messes with their height, right?" Maria laughed she left the room, leaving behind the plate of cookies; Bucky snatched one up. 

"There is no connection between coffee and growth!" Bambi cried indignantly. "Scientifically nothing has been proved!" 

Bucky looked up and down at him, causing Bambi to turn even redder. "All I'm saying is I can see correlation _and_ causation." 

"Can we get back to work?" He sniped. He took a sip of his coffee as he muttered _stupid google_ and Bucky shrugged as he picked up the pen again. 

\------------- 

A few days later, Bucky ducked into a coffee shop and ordered a to go cup. Despite the detour he made it a quarter of an hour before classes started. He spied the back of a familiar head and slammed side first into the locker next to it. To his disappointment, Bambi barely jumped. 

He held up the coffee grudgingly. Tony gave him a disinterested look. Bucky sighed. "You were right," he said in a monotone. "All the problems were correct." 

Tony pounced gleefully on the coffee. "You were supposed to say _Tony you were right and I was wrong, so wrong_." 

"You're insufferable is what you are," Bucky said in exasperation. The first night he had gone over to Tony's house, Tony had proceeded to dictate maths solutions without pause. Bucky had finally rebelled, protesting that he had to have made a mistake. There was no way anyone could do maths like that. (As far as Bucky had known.) Tony had been obstinate. Finally, they had bet that if Sitwell returned the paper without any corrections, Bucky would have to bring coffee the next day. 

"Are you coming over tonight?" Tony asked, fiddling with the coffee container. 

"Huh?" The Ness twins were walking by. Gillian was blonde and her brother was dirty blonde but both of them were quite the pair. She smiled at him as she passed by and Bucky winked at her. She blushed and bit her lip, and her brother's cheeks went a little red too as he looked away. _What I wouldn't do to be in the middle of them._

Bucky blinked and turned to Tony, who had removed the top of the cup and staring into its dregs. "You're not going to drink that are you?" Tony's mouth turned down briefly and he threw it back like a shot of tequila. He grimaced at the taste while Bucky raised an eyebrow. "Weirdo. I'll be at yours at seven." He turned his attention to a group of girls passing them. Without fail, each of them in their turns glanced at him. "How're you doing beautiful?" Bucky called out towards them with a smirk. They fell apart. Giggling and blushing the braver girls replied, _"Fine", "Hi Bucky", "Morning Barnes", "How are you James?", "You look nice today James"._

Tony muttered something under his breath. Half his attention still on the girls, Bucky turned towards him but he was already walking away. 

\------------- 

Later that night, Bucky groaned as he saw _more_ maths worksheets laid out. Tony was sitting on the bed, half braced against the headboard and half lying on the pillows. A thick Shakespeare book was in his left hand held above his head and he deftly flipped the pages one handed with his fingers. 

"It's only speed and distance problems." Tony sat up and threw the book aside. 

"I have a moral objection to them." Tony looked at him like he was crazy. "They drive too slow." Bucky explained. 

Tony snorted and handed him a pen as usual. After a thought he also picked up a calculator. They got down to it. Bucky spends more than enough time in chairs at school, so he sprawled on the bed and Tony dragged the swivel chair to the end of the bed. He used the foot-board to swing himself round and round which was more adorable than it had any right to be. 

At-least this time the problems are not out of his league. In fact, the droning of his teacher came back to Bucky and he kept up for most of it. "587 miles divided by 2.5 hours is-" Bucky called out. 

Tony stopped the chair with a jerk, and looked down at the calculator in his possession. But he was dizzy and it showed. Laughing, Bucky reached over and snagged the calc. He wiped the last equation and entered the numbers. 23.2. He started writing it down, frowning a little. That didn't sound right. He hoped Bambi was using the right equations. He'd hate for him to get in trouble in school for getting his homework wrong. "234.8," Tony lazily called out. 

Okay, what? Bucky checked the calculator. Yeah, Tony was right. Dumb-ass that he was, Bucky had entered the numbers wrong. He raised his head and stared at Tony incredulously. "Did you do that in your head?" 

Tony sat up. "Wh-What-no. The-the-the problem is repeated...I think I remember it," he stammered. 

Bucky stared at him and down at the calculator. He pretended to believe him and threw the calc back at him. They worked in silence for a while and Bucky called out the next calculation. _Come on doll, don't let me down_. Bucky restrained a smirk at the care Tony took to punch in the numbers. But it was _after_ Tony called out the result that Bucky heard the clack of that big, sweet _Enter_ button. Come to think of it, that calculator had been awfully dusty. Like it hadn't been used in a while. 

Bucky rolled over on his back, abandoning the homework. He smirked at Tony's cute confused upside down face. "What?" 

"You don't need a calculator. You did that in your head." 

"N-no I didn't!" 

"Yes, you did." 

"No, I didn't!" 

"Yes, you did." 

"No, I didn't!" 

"Yes, you did." 

"Fine, I did!" Tony threw up his hands in exasperation. "How did you know?" 

"I didn't hear you press the enter button. I was waiting for it, or actually not waiting for it." 

Tony shook his head at him, looking at him with a strange expression. Bucky doesn't know why he's looking at him like that. It was _just like_ Tony not to use the calculator even when so close to being caught out. 

"Why the whole charade with the calculator then?" Bucky asked curiously. 

"You have to ask?" Tony said flatly. "I'd get my head shoved in a toilet." 

"I wouldn't do that," Bucky said, injured. 

"I know _you_ wouldn't," Tony hastened to mollify him. "but guys like Rumlow, or Rollins..." 

Yeah, Bambi had a point. But hell if Rumlow got even near Tony. He'd rip his head off. 

"What about your old school? The kids must have have been as genius as you." 

Tony went scarlet. Bucky suppressed a smile. "No I'm not." Tony said shyly. Bucky sighed and grabbed his foot, dragging him onto the bed. "Yes, you are. It's a _good_ thing, don't let what other people think get you down." Tony looked at him with worshipful eyes. 

"Why did you leave anyway?" Bucky asked. 

"I got expelled," Tony said and went still. 

Bucky's jaw dropped open. Tony groaned and buried his face in his hands moaning about how he didn't mean to say that. It was Bucky's turn to stammer. "Wh-what? How- What _did you do?_ To get _expelled!_ " 

Tony glowered at him. "Those schools have a really strict and unreasonable code of honor okay?" He said defensively. 

"What happened?" Tony shook his head and tried to turn away. "Tell me!" Laughing Bucky grabbed him around the waist, careful of his arm, as he tried to get away and started to tickle him. Tony shrieked and struggled in his arms. "Tell me!" 

"I'm gonna pee," Tony threatened between giggles. "Fine! I'll tell you. Fine." 

Tony sat up, disheveled and tried to move away a little but Bucky kept a firm hold on him. Tony's adam's apple worked up and down as he swallowed. "I uh was a very curious boy...and the teachers didn't always have the answers to my questions. I did a lot of independent study. And I went over the hours I was allotted. In the lab. Which I blew up." 

Bucky rolled over and buried his face in the pillow to stifle his hysterical laughter. "Bucky," Tony whined at him. "Stop it." 

"Doll, I didn't expect you to be such a firecracker," Bucky drawled as he propped himself up on one arm and pushed his hair out of his eyes. Tony's eyes lowered down to his lap shyly. He looked back up at Bucky and smiled and Bucky could hardly stop from grinning back. 

"Listen Bucky, I have to tell you something about-" 

"Shit, is that the time?" Bucky looked at the clock and jumped up. Steve always got pissed when had to wait longer than half an hour. "I have to go, I'm meeting up with some friends." He shrugged on his jacket, waved goodbye to the Starks and sped out the house. 

\------------- 

Blondes really do have more fun, Bucky decided. Penny, a knockout girl recently from Kansas was really enjoying her new city. They'd picked each other up last night and were still going strong now, with the sun rising red over the buildings. 

Bucky was supposed to be keeping an eye out for Steve, who was spray painting on the side of a building, but Penny's tongue was in his mouth and it was hard to concentrate. He ran a hand through her fine blonde hair, and lazily opened an eye, searching for Steve. Sam had dropped out sometime during the night and so had Laura and Clint and Nat hadn't been able to make it. 

He gave her one last deep kiss and sauntered over to Steve. "Done?" 

"Nearly," Steve stepped back and critically eyed his work. "I told you to go -- don't you have classes?" 

"Don't you?" 

Steve turned to look at him in exasperation. "No, it's Thursday, remember? I have the morning free. _You_ don't." 

Bucky shrugged, unconcerned. "I'll not go today." 

"Fury is going to kick your ass if you miss too many classes again," Steve turned towards Penny. "I think she's waiting for you. You ever get tired of going through so many girls and guys?" Bucky looked at him in surprise. "I mean, you don't want that one special someone?" 

"I'm not a romantic like you, Steve," Bucky laughed as he threw an arm around his shoulders and steered him towards Penny. 

After, he dropped off Steve (making sure to dodge Sarah Rogers), and then Penny with a last make out session and a declined invitation to go up to her apartment for "coffee", Bucky just wandered the streets. He should have been going home to finally get some sleep. It wasn't Steve's comment that made him feel so prickly and out of his skin. No, that feeling had been slowly creeping up on him the whole night. He didn't want to go home. He didn't want to call up his friends. He didn't want to hit up any of his usual hangouts. He just felt _weird_. 

Across the street, a coffee shop was opening up. 

He'd get coffee for Tony he figured. Yeah. Give him the coffee, stick around school till lunch, then ditch the rest of the classes to go home and have a nap. Then wake up around 5 or 6 and head over to Tony's and then maybe after join his friends as usual. He was already at the till by the time he finished making the plan. 

\------------- 

Bucky bent over the table, scribbling furiously while keeping one eye on the clock. Pop quiz had to be the worst words ever to to register in a student's ears. Today, there had been _two_ of them. Thankfully this was the last class before gym. The only problem was that the damn paper was taking so long to finish. Usually he'd be done 20 minutes before the bell, bored out of his mind. Now, he was struggling to finish since _there was so much to write._

Most of the other students had completed the quiz and were aimlessly looking around. Bucky contemplated skipping a few questions, but he knew the answers or at least thought he did, so he continued with a sigh. The bell rang a while later. Bucky was on his last question and had a few more lines to write. He could have done it while the teacher collected the other papers, but he only finished the sentence and flicked his wrist with the paper in hand in the teacher's direction. 

In gym, Steve asked him what had taken him so long. Bucky shrugged, "There was way too much material to write." 

Sam groaned. "I feel like I skipped half that paper." 

That started off the typical rehashing of a test. Bucky made a note of the people who swore they were going to fail. In his experience these were the ones who got top marks when the papers came back corrected. Lying was a sin, according to the sermon the priest had given last Sunday, which he had attended only because Sarah Rogers had broken into his house in the morning and dragged him to church with his mother's blessings. 

They were playing dodge-ball today. It was either divine intervention or a happy coincidence. Probably god in the machine. 

Bucky was ticking off names with extreme prejudice with the help of a only slightly deflated ball and excellent aim when he spied a figure sitting in the bleachers. He hadn't even known that Tony was in his gym class. There was a disposable cup of coffee next to him. It wasn't even the one he had gotten him this morning. Bucky smiled as he remembered. It had become a habit to bring Tony coffee every morning. Today, he had beat Tony to his locker and placed the cup inside, then passed him by as Tony looked confused and hurt at the lack of greeting and his empty hands. 

Bucky had pretended to turn the corner and stealthily poked his head around to watch as a downcast Tony opened his locker. His pout turned to joy had been so adorable. Bucky had grinned at him bouncing on his toes whilst leaning on the corner. He made a mental note to try the new coffee shop opened near his place. He'd have to properly time it so it wouldn't get cold before he reached school. 

The gym teacher tried halfheartedly to maintain order for the first 10 minutes then gave up and slumped in his chair, going through his phone, letting the class act out _Survival of the Fittest_. Very few of them were fit. 

"Is that Stark?" Nat nodded at Tony. 

"Uh-huh," Bucky took aim at Al Killian, who had been moaning how he was going to get an F. (He never got less than 95%.) The ball bounced off Al's head, to the floor and then to Bucky's waiting hands. 

Amidst the laughter of his classmates, Bucky jogged over to Tony. "What the hell are you doing here? Aren't you excused?" 

Tony looked down at him from his seat in the bleachers. "I still have to physically be here." 

"Just skip," Bucky suggested, as he spun the ball on one finger. "It's the last class of the day." 

"I don't want to get in trouble," Tony said, making a face. 

Such a liar, Mr Stark. The kid was trouble itself. Bucky took careful aim, then took a step forward and gently pitched the ball at Tony's head. "Liar, liar, pants on fire," he intoned flatly and then laughed as Tony flailed and ducked. 

"Are you _a child_?" Tony asked exasperatedly. 

Bucky chased after the rolling ball. "Oh, it barely touched you!" He mimed throwing the ball again and snorted as Tony ducked exaggeratedly. 

He turned around and passed the ball to Steve, who was pouting. "You're going out tonight with us right? Laura and Sharon promised to get us into this club called Latveria." 

Bucky snorted, "Please, it's barely a dive bar." Another ball came whizzing at his ear, he caught it in one hand and sent it back to its owner. A yelp proved it had found its target. 

Sam knocked shoulders with him and pointed to the stands. Bucky looked up and let out a bark-like laugh. Tony had gotten his hands on a football helmet and crammed it on his head whilst he studied serenely. 

\------------- 

Later that evening found Bucky and his friends pregaming in a bowling alley. Sam had snuck in some beer in some soft drink bottles. 

Bucky was generously sharing his with a redhead named Cheryl. 

"Cheryl?" Steve asked skeptically. "Like in the _Archie_ comics?" 

"Yup," she said. "Just like in the comics." Her fingers played with the neck of the bottle seductively. "Was she your favourite?" She asked Bucky flirtatiously. 

Bucky actually gave it some thought. "Nah," He replied casually. "I liked the look of Veronica better." Cheryl blinked at him, thrown. "Looks like Veronica, and a little bit of her attitude, with the rest of her personality like Betty." 

"Looks like you've given it serious thought," Nat said dryly as Clint laughed. 

"You didn't like Cheryl at all?" Cheryl hinted heavily. 

"No, too stuck up...I would have gone for a threesome with her and her brother though," He smirked at her as she blushed wildly. 

"When's Laura coming over, Clint?" Sam complained. 

"Yeah, I can't stick around much longer, I gotta head over to Tony's," Bucky added. 

A chorus of groans rose around him. "You've spent practically every night at his place," Steve complained. "I never see you anymore." 

"Aw come on," Bucky snapped, his hackles rising, "We see each other plenty. It's only an hour or two a day." Steve muttered it was more than that under his breath. 

Annoyed, Bucky let out a slow breath and tried to let go of his sudden anger. Steve was the one person he didn't get angry with. He'd known the punk his whole life. "What can I say, I broke it, I bought it," He tried with forced lightheartedness. 

"Are you making him do your homework?" Natasha asked. Everyone turned as one to gawk at her. 

Bucky sputtered, thrown. " _No_ , where the hell did you get that idea?" 

"I don't know, the number of assignments you've been turning in?" Natasha asked pointedly. 

"You know, you have been turning more assignments in lately, as opposed to before when you...didn't," Sam supported. 

"That," Bucky rolled his eyes. "Tony's mom made me get my own homework to do at the same time I help him with his." 

"And you _listened to her_?" Clint asked incredulously, "Who is this woman?" 

Bucky pulled a face. "She got on the phone with my mom," he said darkly. "They've formed an unholy union. All they need is Sarah Rogers to round them off and they'd be the _Unholy Trifecta_." 

Steve punched him halfheartedly. "Don't talk about my mom that way." 

"I like and respect your mom," Bucky replied. "'S why I think her worthy of being included in _Unholy Trifecta_." 

Sam was rolling up to line a ball, and Cheryl had wandered off to rejoin her friends when Bucky got a look at the clock. Screw this. Who knew when Sharon would be back? He still had half an hour to reach Tony's and it was only ten minutes from the bowling alley but he felt impatient to leave. After all, what was the point to wait for Laura and Sharon? They might call them up to meet them at Latveria. 

"I'm out," Bucky announced. 

"You've still got time," Clint observed. 

"I'm late already," Bucky lied. He was a gigantic hypocrite. And just his luck the nearest balls weighed 16 pounds. Oh well, hate the sin, love the sinner. And on the note of _loving the sinner_ , he caught Cheryl's eye and tilted his head towards the exit. He might as well get her number. 

\------------- 

"You're late," Tony informed him. "What were you doing?" 

"A redhead," Bucky said offhandedly. He'd actually been stuck in traffic, there had been a blocked road close to the bowling alley. 

No math today, and Bucky had made Tony promise that Shakespeare would be done only at the last minute before it was due. Today it was logic homework and some history essay. 

"Tony, I'm stuck here," Bucky complained. He was resting against the headboard with the laptop on his stretched out legs. "I can't figure out how to make the footer in that faded color." 

Tony dropped down to sit on the bed next to Bucky's hips and deftly typed with one hand and fixed it. He wasn't so bad with his left hand. His fingers were nice. Elegant. 

"We should do this at your house next time," Tony observed. 

"No way," he scoffed. "My mom would take one look at you and adopt you." 

Tony grinned brightly. God, he lit up whenever Bucky complimented him. Was it Bucky or was Tony so unused to compliments? Which was ridiculous. Tony was so amazing, he should be complimented all the time. 

"You like being the only child?" Bucky looked at him in surprise. Hadn't he ever mentioned his sisters before? 

"No, I'm the eldest of four," Bucky explained, pulling out his phone. He opened up his photo library and handed over the phone. "I have three younger sisters." 

Tony flicked through the photos eagerly. "They're pretty. Hah, I like this one -- in Disneyland?" 

Bucky resisted the weird urge to ask him if he was prettier than his sisters. 

"I don't think I've seen them around -- they don't go to Shield?" 

"They stay with my dad," Bucky replied after a moment of hesitation. He didn't want to talk about this. But his stupid mouth had other ideas. "They stay with my dad in Florida." 

Tony glanced up and put the phone down carefully. "Divorced?" 

"Yeah," He chewed the inside of his cheek for a while. "My dad had an affair. Just like that. I thought my parents were -- but...they weren't -- they weren't _unhappy_. After my dad came clean they went to therapy. My sisters and I, we thought it would work out. But they weren't in love anymore. What bullshit. They kept saying these things -- like, a part of us will always love each other or we love each other but we're not in love anymore. And the judge divided their property and their kids and my dad went off to Florida with my sisters." 

Bucky shot an angry look at Tony. "It's dumb. Loads of people get divorced." 

"You thought they were happy and in love," Tony said simply. 

And, fuck, yes that was the crux of it. Bucky thought he had known who he was. He didn't even have to think about it. He was the eldest of four of Winifred and George Barnes, who were going to remain married till they were 80 and would welcome visits from their kids who never came by as much as they should and would dote on their grandkids and who knows -- maybe even see their great-grandkids. He was the elder brother of Becca, Lucy and Maddy -- three firecrackers who could take care of themselves but still looked up to Bucky and let him boss them around once in a blue moon. He was Steve Rogers' best friend and if anyone picked on Steve or he tried to pick a fight he sent them packing. 

That was his definition. 

And then overnight it didn't exist anymore. What did you do when the solid ground underneath you disappeared? 

He hadn't cared about fighting one way or the other before but it was _useful_. Useful to protect Steve and to scare away guys his sisters didn't like. Though he liked winning. He always won. Just like he always struck a target with a gun when he used to practice with his dad. Now over the past two years, fighting and not caring (except for a few precious things) and the slow, simmering anger that came and went had slowly become second nature. 

Bucky shrugged, trying to show his disaffection. He'd probably scared the kid. He should have kept his mouth shut. Bambi didn't want all this dumped on him and probably couldn't understand it either. His hand twitched where it lay near Tony's hip. 

"I blew up the lab at my old school on purpose," Tony said evenly. 

Bucky blinked at the non-sequitur. And then the words actually registered. But before he could open his mouth to demand an explanation, Maria entered with her tray. 

"How's it going boys?" Tony and Bucky made the usual noises but Bucky was pretty sure his eyes were bugging out of his head as he tried to restrain himself in front of Tony's mom. 

As she left, Maria trailed her hand over the door, using it for support as she rounded the door. Of course the pressure of her hand swung the door wide open where previously it had been mostly closed. Bucky had to admire the elegance of the move, other mothers had started doing that since he had turned twelve but no one had done it with such delicacy and subtlety. 

He turned back to Tony, who was sheepishly scratching his head. "Does your mom know?" 

"No," Tony shook his head. "Maybe? Moms' you know..." 

Bucky waited with a patience he didn't know he had. Tony cleared his throat. "My parents are divorced too," he mumbled. "But it was a long time ago. Dad's mostly good about paying child support. He was paying for my school -- it was pretty expensive. But then he got all petty...he had a fight with mom and me too. Gave me ultimatums about what I should choose as a career and demanded that I should come work with him in this new company he and his partner were setting up. Mom was on my side. There was a bunch of other stuff too. Typical Howard being Howard. He said he wasn't going to pay for the school from next semester. So, instead of giving him the satisfaction I decided to do it my way instead." 

"With a bang," Bucky said, grinning helplessly. 

Tony shrugged with seeming modesty but looked exceedingly pleased with himself. 

Bucky couldn't believe his friends moaned about him hanging with Tony, if they knew him... 

"We're going out," Bucky snapped the laptop shut decisively. 

"Wah?" 

" _Out_ ," Bucky informed him. "My friends are heading out to a bar. We've spent weeks cooped up in this room. All work and no play makes Tony a dull boy." 

Tony snorted, "Oh yeah? And what does it make Bucky?" 

"You don't want to find out," he said mysteriously. 

"Mrs Stark!" Bucky called out. "Is it okay if Tony and I go out? We're going to meet up with some of my friends." 

Bucky didn't think she would have agreed given the trick she'd pulled with the door and was prepared to charm, wheedle, flatter, cajole and beg her at her as a last resort but she agreed if not with alacrity, then only with a little hesitation. 

It turned out that Tony did not have a fake id but Bucky promised to get him one as soon as he could, a prospect that seemed to alarm and intrigue Tony. 

In the meantime he arranged for Laura to open up a side door. Once Tony was in no one one would say anything unless he tried to order at the bar. The owner was either a total sleazeball or incredibly laid back. 

To say his friends were surprised was an understatement, but they mostly hid their astonishment and were pretty welcoming to Tony. He hovered a bit in the beginning, making sure that everyone got the idea that there would no being mean or picking on Tony, but pretty soon Tony himself was wandering here and there like a curious kitten. 

No -- wait, like _Bambi_. He had to stick with one analogy though he was kinda curious what Tony's reaction would be to be called _kitten_. 

Tony and Steve were becoming fast friends by the looks of it. Tony was helpfully pointing out angles Steve could use to sink his balls on the pool table and Sam was moaning about cheating, which the other two happily ignored. Bucky was keeping a distant but careful eye on Tony while flirting with Sean, a cute blonde college boy. 

Satisfied that Tony was enjoying himself, he pulled Sean to the dance floor to join Natasha and Sharon. 

"Your boy's not bad," Natasha yelled over the music. Sean looked flattered but Bucky knew she was talking about Tony. 

"Next time let's go to Savage Land," Sharon said. "Bring Tony." 

_Not my boy_ , he thought but didn't put it in words. 

\------------- 

Tony swung his legs nervously back and forth. "Will you stop that?" Bucky hissed. 

Tony looked at him sourly. "It's not your arm they're going to saw off," he said. 

Bucky rolled his eyes. "They're just taking the cast off. If there is damage to your arm it'll be because of the pencil you kept inserting to scratch." 

"It was itching so much!" Tony moaned. 

Bucky smirked at him; in retrospect it was funny but at the time he had kept snapping at him to stop and Tony obstinate to his last breath continued till the pencil slipped from his hand and got stuck in the cast. Tony had later accused Bucky of going into angry and panicked hysterics but he hadn't been calm at the moment either. Their panic had bought Maria running, and learning of the situation, rolled her eyes, grabbed a pair of tweezers and removed the offending scratching implement. 

He was pretty sure she had called up his mother and told her all about it so they could laugh over it together. 

All the x-rays had been taken and Tony wouldn't even have to wear a sling. The doctor entered and started up the miniature saw. Tony jerked back so hard at the noise that Bucky had to suppress a laugh. Instead he clamped down firmly on Tony's shoulders to keep him in place. 

The Doctor admired the artwork of the cast, which was courtesy of Steve and started cutting. He made two lines, one on either side and then picked up a pair of scissors and started cutting the bandages. It was Bucky's turn to tense up. But the doc was quick and soon popped the two pieces of cast off. It hadn't taken more than 2 minutes. 

Tony inspected his arm which looked fine, but pale, a contrast to his darker complexion. 

Bucky felt relieved. It had been an accident and though he acted like he didn't care in front of everybody, he had felt guilty. The guilt and feeling of responsibility had only increased as time went on. As the cast came off, it felt like a heavy load had come off him too. 

"We should celebrate," he said. 

Tony looked at him questioningly. "Maybe the beach?" Bucky suggested. 

"That's a way away." 

"We can go on the weekend. Saturday. Start in the morning and be back before night," Bucky brainstormed. "I'll set it up with the others. You ask your mom." 

"Hey I just realized," Tony said with a smile. "I have to do my own homework now." 

"Yes!" Bucky cheered. "No more parabolas!" They laughed, and just then a couple of volunteers entered. One of them immediately caught Bucky's eye. She was cute as a button with brown eyes and hair to match. She blushed when she saw him looking at her. 

"Would you like a balloon?" One of the other girls asked brightly. 

"No," Tony snapped. "I'm not a child." 

"How about some painkillers?" She said just as brightly with a sharp glint added to her eye. 

Bucky laughed and hastily converted it into a cough when Tony looked at him witheringly. 

"No, thank you," Tony said stonily. 

"Alright." The volunteers left. 

It took a while for everyone to agree on a weekend date when they would all be available. Laura was applying for college, Natasha had ballet, Sam had Junior ROTC and Steve had an important art project. 

Finally, they had agreed on a date two weeks after Tony's cast had been taken off. The Thursday morning before the beach trip found Bucky with Steve, Sharon and Sam in the parking lot. Steve was waiting for Tony, who had promised him some materials on star systems, interstellar objects and recently received images from telescopes so Steve could use them to make artistic renderings for his project. 

Steve spotted Tony and waved and called out his name. Tony started jogging towards them when he slipped and fell flat upon his face. Everyone yelped and raced to him. 

"Oh Tony," Sharon said with laughter and concern in her voice. "Are you alright?" 

"Fine, fine. I don't need my dignity anyway. What use is it?" Tony said airily as Sam and Steve propped him up between them. 

"It's okay," she consoled. "It happens. You're just having problems compensating for the weight where your cast used to be. My cousin had the same thing too." 

Bucky felt irritation creeping up at the back of his head. "You need to watch your step," he snapped. "You want to break another bone?" 

Everyone looked at him with raised brows like he had said something embarrassing, "Sorry," Tony said sarcastically, stretching out the word. Bucky pressed his lips together to control himself. "Steve, I have the stuff for you. Kepler has stars and systems outside the solar system, Juno has great shots of Jupiter. Hubble is my favorite though -- it's sent back great data of other galaxies," Tony said as he pulled out a binder stuffed with papers and a USB stick. 

"I was thinking combining them with some old scifi books," Steve suggested. "You know, pick a closest approximation of a real planet for the world setting and start out wide and then zoom in closer and closer -- solar system, then the planet and its moons, then closeup of the atmosphere, then the surface." 

"You should do _Game of Thrones_ ," Bucky said with a bite in his tone. 

"That's fantasy not scifi," Tony said flatly. 

"Actually..." Sam started. "Isn't it set on a different planet?" 

Bucky didn't stick around to hear the debate that was surely going to start off whether _Games of Thrones_ qualified as a scifi or not. 

His bad mood continued over the day. The only bright spot had been in Chemistry class, where the pop quiz had been returned. Bucky had forgotten all about it. He'd gotten an A. The teacher passed it to him with raised eyebrows. It would make his mother happy and maybe even Tony. He had stopped going over to his house of course. There was no use for him now. Even so, around the time he usually went over to Tony's he got a pavlovian urge to do homework and study. 

He studied the paper. The work had been a basic version of Tony's. The steps had been simple enough to follow. The teacher was still eyeing him. What the hell? He smirked and yawned exaggeratedly. Nice to keep them on their toes. 

Unfortunately that good feeling didn't last. 

As he left the class, Natasha appeared by his side and caught his elbow. She drew him to a corner. "What's the matter?" he asked warily. She had a tense expression on her face. 

"It's about Tony," Nat said tersely. She started explaining through the sudden buzzing in his ears. "Laura called me. She said he's in the nurses office. He got into a fight with Rollins and Rumlow." 

"In a _fight with Rollins and Rumlow?_ " Bucky asked incredulously. 

"Something happened between them in the last period. I think he said something to piss them off -- you know how those two are -- and they started pushing him around-" 

"What, what could he _possibly_ have said-" He bit off angrily and started striding towards the nurse's room. 

People jumped out of his way and he was viciously glad. He calmed down a bit when he barged into the nurse's room and saw Tony sitting up. Okay, so maybe the visions of Tony with bruises and broken bones and blood all over him had been a little overwrought. 

"Mr Barnes," The nurse said in exasperation. Bucky gave her a look which dared her to throw him out. 

"We're his friends, Mrs Jones," Nat said in a sickly sweet voice. "We were worried about him." 

"Oh, well," she said, mollified. 

Bucky stomped over to the bed. He stilled with a hand on Tony's shoulder. There was a red bruise on his neck. "What the hell happened." he asked in a quiet, strained tone of voice. 

"I fell down," Tony admitted. "Rollins laughed so I asked him what he and black holes had in common. They -er, they're both dense." 

Nat snorted behind them. "That's not even funny -- just because he _laughed_?" Bucky said through gritted teeth. 

"He started it!" Tony complained. "And-and it wasn't just laughing. He said some other things too," Tony mumbled. 

Typical. Just typical. What, did Bucky have a type? First Steve, who couldn't keep his punk mouth _shut_ , and now Tony. They couldn't pick a fight with people their own size. _Oh no_. That would be too-too well-adjusted. They had to talk back to guys like Rumlow and that guy in the theatre Steve had called out for heckling that gay couple who had 80 pounds and 7 inches on him. 

No, no, no, _Bucky_ was the insane one. 

"No bones are broken," Jones said with a look at him. Fuck her. "There is a slight concussion though. You'll have to be careful of that." 

Concussion? Bucky gently felt the back of Tony's skull, as Tony looked up at him with those big, brown eyes, his head cradled in Bucky's hand, and stopped when he found a bump. 

A red haze descended over Bucky's eyes. 

\------------- 

This time, as Bucky stormed the hallways, he didn't notice people jumping out of his way. He was too focused. Later, it was whispered that that even Mr. Sitwell ducked into the bathroom instead of stopping Bucky. Legend said that's why he's known as Shitwell. 

It didn't take long for him to find Rumlow and Rollins. They were joking around with their little gang at their lockers. Bucky didn't stop or slow down. He let his momentum carry him as he grabbed Rumlow by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the lockers. 

Cries of shock and alarm rose up around them. "What the hell man?" Rumlow asked, furious, struggling against Bucky's grip. 

"What? You don't like it when the other guy is the same size as you?" Bucky asked with a mad grin. Was this the same locker he had slammed Tony's head against? 

Realization dawned in Rumlow's eyes. "Is this about that little -" 

Bucky slammed him up against the lockers again. "Don't-" he warned. "Don't finish that." 

Rumlow laughed. "Didn't think that little bitch boy was your type. Don't worry we'll stay away from him. Not pretty enough for _us_." Bucky felt a rush of air on his right and turned just in time to block the punch from Rollins by putting Rumlow in the line of fire. 

"I told you not to finish that," he said darkly. Rollins came up for another punch, Bucky ducked and kicked his legs out from under him. He felt someone jump on his back. Rumlow came at his front with murderous eyes. It was tough going for a while, but Bucky managed to hold his own. He gave as many punches and hits as he took. 

He felt the guy being ripped of his back. Bucky didn't pause, he went after Rumlow with renewed vengeance. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Clint, who had probably gotten him free, and Sam join in. Rollins jumped in after Rumlow to defend him and it only took an arm tight around his neck for a a few seconds for him to drop out. He was punching Rumlow in the face over and over again, both of them on the ground when he heard Fury yelling obscenities and ordering them to break it up. 

Rumlow had been trying to fight back, but his punches had been getting weaker and weaker. Breathing hard, Bucky stopped, keeping a wary eye on Rumlow when he felt Fury's hand on the back of his shirt hauling him up and off. As he tried to keep his balance on his unsteady legs he saw Fury striding off to separate Clint and a member of Rumlow's little gang who were still shoving at each other. 

He caught a flash of red. Nat was standing off to the side, a blank look on her face. Bucky would bet his motorcycle that she had jumped in the fight too. But now she was looking unruffled, with not a hair out of place. And beside her was... 

Tony. 

Everyone else, all the students were looking at him in fear. He was used to it. _It was deserved._ But he had not expected Tony to be looking at him with the same expression of fear. How long had he been standing there and watching as Bucky pounded Rumlow's face in? 

It was - it - what Bucky had done had been to _protect_ Tony. Wasn't it? How could he look at him like that? A strange acidic feeling rose up in his throat. The rest of the students' were still looking at him and combined with the look of horror on Tony's face he just couldn't take it. 

He turned and punched the locker. Just put his fist in. It was all he knew to do. Everyone in the hallway gasped at the dent in the locker. And Bucky ran. 

\------------- 

Tony had been half afraid that the beach trip would be cancelled because what had happened two day ago. But Saturday, right on the dot Tony and Steve had been picked up at Steve's house, Steve armed with the biggest bottle of sunscreen that Tony had ever seen. 

Bucky and Sharon took their bikes and the rest crammed into Laura's car. Nat had called shotgun, much to Clint's bitterness. He, along with Sam, Steve and Tony tried to fit together in the backseat. 

"This seat is too small," Clint moaned. 

"That's not what you said last night," Laura remarked from the front. 

Tony felt the tips of his ears grow warm. He stared out of the window. He could see Bucky now and then, zipping through traffic. To his surprise, Bucky was wearing a helmet. He mentioned it offhandedly to the car occupants and his surprise at the conformance to vehicular safety. 

Steve snickered. "The last two years since he got the bike, he's gotten nothing but helmets as birthday and christmas presents from our moms." 

Tony smiled at the thought of Bucky opening present after present at his birthdays and christmas only to find helmets. He tried not to think about the leather jacket, not in company at least. 

"How're the applications going Laura?" Sam asked. 

She groaned. "Exhausting," she complained. "Tony, Bucky said your dream school is MIT. Have you taken a look at the application yet?" 

"Yeah," Tony replied. "Looks okay, I won't have any trouble, but I don't think I'll be able to pay for it without scholarships. So my mom and I are looking at that." 

"You could take out a education loan," Clint observed. 

Steve snorted as Tony replied, "I don't want my mom to co-sign a loan." 

"My mom offered the same," Steve said. "No way." 

Laura shook her head, "You might have to." 

Sam asked Steve which colleges he had narrowed down and he and Steve launched into a discussion of the best art schools. 

Most of the ride the continued in this vein, moving from one topic to another, never referencing Thursday's incidence out loud. Tony couldn't _stop_ thinking about it however. Bucky hadn't been at school on Friday. Rumours swirled that he had been suspended or worse, expelled. 

Tony had tried calling, messaging and emailing but couldn't get through. It was only Natasha reassuring that Bucky had been suspended for 3 days and not kicked out had stopped Tony from turning up at his house like a stalker. 

He didn't know what to say to Sam and Clint, though they had probably done what they done due to their friendship with Bucky not Tony. Still, he felt obligated. Thankfully, Fury had only given them detention. 

Tony knew he was a handful. Other children would stick a fork in a socket. Tony would remove the protective casing, expose the wires and re-wire half the house to give adequate power supply to his Frankenstein-esq robot. 

At his first school, he had driven his teachers mad with his relentless curiosity. At his second 'advanced' school, his mother had had high hopes; he had not the heart to tell her that things were little better. He had blown past what syllabus they had to offer, toppling the hierarchy and causing the others to snub him and the teachers had been little better. To his shame, he had exaggerated relations with a few of the students he got along with -- they had not been his friends, just acquaintances. 

But it did simulate his mind better, so when Howard began to make noises about pulling the money, Tony went along for a while. After all, the private school _was_ expensive and they were well-off but not that rich. But Howard began to be controlling to such a degree that it was unbearable. When the fear of leaving the school went away, Tony called his father's bluff. It left him without a safety net for college, but it was worth it. 

At his third (and hopefully final) school, he knew how to handle it. Keep his head down, work hard, do a _lot_ of self study and don't expect to make any friends. Bucky had come out of left field. What he had seen and heard about Bucky was totally different from the Bucky he knew. 

The Bucky Shield High knew was fearsome, scary, big, contemptuous of authority, had a terrible temper, was the former star of the boxing team until he got kicked out for fighting dirty, flirt and philanderer. 

Tony's Bucky was sweet. He was scared of his mother, protective of his friends, an obedient son and got sullen over the most ridiculous things. 

He had the sharpest, prettiest eyes Tony had ever seen but you had to be really close to properly see them. And just slightly long, swingy hair that Tony couldn't believe Mrs Barnes tolerated. 

Actually the only similarity between the two Buckys' was the flirt and philanderer part. Tony pouted and slumped in his seat. 

Because of him Tony actually had friends now. They didn't snub him when they realised how much smarter he was than them and didn't even ask him to do their homework. 

Bucky had taken his side not putting any blame on the situation on him, though it was his fault. Tony felt so guilty over the fight. He kept going over it in his head, thinking about the different ways he could have handled it. One scenario had him handling Rollins himself, by coolly tripping him up. He'd bang his head and hurt his eye (only slightly!) and have to be led to the nurses room. Another one would have him just ignore them, pretend he hadn't heard anything. Anything he hadn't heard Rumlow say to him a dozen times before. (Yeah, like that ever worked.) Another had a teacher come on them, hear everything and drag Rumlow and Rollins away by their ears. 

It was the first that stayed in his mind. He'd teach the bullies a lesson, yes, not to pick on anyone smaller than them, to teach them that brains won over brawn in the end and they would shrivel up and understand that they would never be as good as him...but what came after was what Tony went over and over again in his mind in loving detail. Tony would turn and Bucky would be there, looking at him in admiration and approval. His hands would settle on Tony's shoulders and he'd lean in close and say -- 

Laura pressed on the horn hard and cursed at the car that had nearly side-swiped them. 

Steve looked at Tony in concern. "Hey, are you okay? You look kind of flushed." 

"I'm fine," Tony reassured him in a slightly hoarse voice. He caught sight of Bucky again, zipping between two cars. 

He was in so much trouble. 

\------------- 

The beach was a good idea. Bucky mentally patted himself on the back. All the drama and irritation of the fight had melted away. Bare feet in the sand would do that. Also, the scantily dressed people. 

Its not like Bucky was over what had happened. It's just that he didn't want to think about it. It also helped that Tony was not acting any different. Maybe he was wrong...maybe- 

Nope. Not thinking about it. 

Most people had gotten dunked at least once in the ocean and had settled down in little groups. Tony and Sharon were building a sand city with towering skyscrapers and roads and industrial blocks and houses. Clint waited impatiently near them to finish; they had promised him he could pretend to be a kaiju in it. Bucky and Steve had joined up with another group to play beach volleyball. 

Nat was doing the beach bum deal, after stealing Steve's ridiculously over sized bottle of sunscreen. Despite that all of them had bets on who would end up with the worst burn, Steve or Natasha. 

Four boys had drifted over to her, attracted like a magnet. Some had even abandoned their dates. Bucky saw one pretty dark skinned girl, pouting sadly. It would serve her date right if Bucky stole her away from him. As he watched, she stood up, tossed her long brown hair back, and walked over to where Nat was holding court. 

Steve crashed into him as he tried to reach the ball and both of them went tumbling into the sand. "Punk," Bucky spit out sand. "Watch where you're going!" 

"Play and stop making eyes at girls!" Steve shot back. 

"You need 'nother dunkin' in the water." 

"We need more people on our side," Steve said, ignoring him. He yelled at the others for volunteers. Only Nat and Tony came. Nat gracefully unfolded from her chair and left behind her disappointed harem. Tony jogged over, leaving behind Clint who was gleefully roaring and stomping through the sand city. Sharon joined him, and from the looks of it, being the Jaeger to his kaiju. 

Just when Tony reached Bucky, he staggered and fell. Luckily, he stumbled right into Bucky so he able to break his fall. He wrapped an arm around Tony to help him keep his balance and tutted. "Still, Bambi?" 

"The beach is not Bambi's natural environment," Tony shot back impishly. 

Bucky laughed, his arm still around Tony. Steve yelled at them both to stop fooling around and started bossing around the rest of them, directing them to their positions. Bucky replied, "Aye, aye Captain," and regretfully and slowly pulled away from Tony's sun-warmed skin. He noted the blush on Tony's cheeks and smiled to himself. 

\------------- 

Bucky grinned as he saw Tony ambling tiredly towards him. He slumped against the lockers and made no move to open his. "Hey, there zombie," Bucky greeted. He held out the coffee in his hand towards Tony but jerked his hand up as Tony reached for it. 

Tony pouted and looked like he was going to cry so Bucky folded like a cheap suit and handed over the coffee. Tony removed the top and drank half of it in one sustained gulp. Bucky raised his eyes and made a mental note to get another coffee at lunchtime. "Did you get _any_ sleep?" 

Tony made a face. "I was up all night seeing what scholarships and grants I was applicable for. Laura scared me with the college talk." 

"Laura scares all of us." 

"I thought that was Natasha." 

"It's both. They take turns. You coming tonight right? No excuses." 

Tony twitched a little. "We're just staying inside. Lame yes but you gotta be there." Bucky leaned forward as he spoke and Tony swayed towards him in reply. After the fight there had been an uptick in the parents' invitations for the group to 'hang out' at their own houses. This time they were staying at Sam's. His parents would be out and had stocked the house with snacks. 

Tony muttered something about science club as a slender, graceful girl walked up to them and greeted Tony. "Hi Maya," Tony said brightly. 

"Are you ready for the meeting today? I'm pumped," Maya said enthusiastically. Oh yeah, another member of the science club. 

"Yes! You know Bruce Banner?" Tony turned to Bucky. 

"Nope," he replied, bored. 

"We're going over his recent findings, and seeing if we can replicate any of them here." Maya(?) nodded in agreement and Bucky felt an intense urge to stuff them in a locker. 

Maya fluttered her lashes a bit. "You know...Tony, after the meeting is over we could go over his list of citations in his latest paper." Bucky yawned openly as she spoke. 

"That would take a lot of time. A week, maybe," Tony said, considering it. 

Maya shrugged. "So? Wouldn't it be interesting?" 

Okay, the shoving them in a locker idea was scrapped, Maya would probably be _thrilled_. "Tony can't do it today, he's busy," Bucky broke in bluntly. 

Maya blinked at him and looked at Tony. "Y-yeah, I'm hanging out with some friends today," Tony agreed, stuttering a little. Bucky smiled, pleased. 

"Don't stay too late with the science club either," Bucky instructed, feeling a little like a dick. "I'm picking you up at 5:30." Maya was pouting up a storm as Tony nodded and Bucky left. 

\------------- 

"No counting cards!" Clint yelled. 

"I'm not!" Tony said. 

"I was talking to Nat!" Clint yelled back. 

Sharon rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen to get another bag of chips. 

"We should play strip poker instead," Sam observed. "The m&m's are being eaten more than used to bet." 

Tony leaned into Bucky. "I was counting cards," he confided in a sotto voce. 

Bucky snorted, "I know." 

"I want to know why Go Fish is forbidden," Tony raised his voice as he asked. 

"We do not talk about it," Clint said solemnly. 

"Just like we are not going to play Monopoly ever again or talk about why we don't," Nat added. 

"Is it because of Tony's latent capitalistic tendencies?" Steve muttered under his breath. 

" _We do not talk about it_ ," Clint enunciated. "Hey, what about darts?" 

Everybody groaned in response. "You, Bucky and Nat always clean up," Sam complained. 

"We could handicap," Nat offered as she got up and set up the dart board. "Left hand gets double? Or everyone goes left hand?" 

"I don't think anyone's left handed," Sam said, thinking. He looked around. "What about it, guys?" 

"I'm ambidextrous," Tony volunteered. Sam shrugged and said something but Bucky couldn't hear anything; there was a buzzing in his ears and an itch in the back of the mind. He blinked and the feeling he had was similar to the feeling you had when you were trying to remember something just out of reach. 

"You're what?" Bucky asked. 

"Ambidextrous, Buck. It's when you can use your left and right hand equally well," Steve said, teasingly patronizing. 

Bucky just stared at Tony. Out of the corner of his eye he saw realization dawn on Nat's face; Tony had gone pale. 

"What the fuck? You're _ambidextrous_?" Bucky said the last word savagely mocking. Tony winced and everyone looked up at Bucky in concern and confusion. He didn't know when he had gotten up. 

"Bucky-" Tony whispered. 

"Did you think it was funny," Bucky said through gritted teeth. "Did you think it was funny making me come up to _room_ everyday and help you in something you could have done all along? Was it fun making me trail after you like a _**dog**_?" Breathing hard, Bucky didn't say anything else, after a second or a minute or an hour he turned on his heel, grabbed his jacket and stormed out of Sam's house. 

It was dark and windy outside. The light was on in only a few houses. Bucky numbly wondered where the rest of the inhabitants were as he shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. It made the tree lined road seem more private and darker than it should be. 

The wind made the trees whisper and rustle. It was the only thing Bucky could hear as he walked away, head bowed and fists clenched in his jacket, but within a few minutes he heard the pounding sound of a pair of feet chasing after him on the sidewalk. 

"Bucky!" 

His teeth automatically grinded. The first time he heard his name it seemed like the trees themselves had whispered it, it was so faint. The next time it was louder and desperate. By the third time, Tony had caught up with him and grabbed his arm. 

"Bucky, please. Let me explain," Tony pleaded breathlessly. 

Bucky angrily jerked his arm away. "Tell me, how dumb did you think I was?" 

"I don't think you're dumb-" 

"You had me jumping around doing tricks!" Bucky said with loathing. He wasn't sure towards whom the loathing was directed -- Tony or himself. 

"I tried telling you!" Tony said in raised voice. His face was screwed in frustration. 

Bucky scoffed. "I did! I jus-just couldn't talk-you wouldn't let me tell you-remember when you first said you'd come over-" 

"Couldn't talk?" Bucky mimicked cruelly. "What were you, afraid?" 

"Yeah," Tony shot back angrily. "Maybe I was afraid you'd break my other arm!" 

Bucky went cold. "Is that what you think of me?" he asked numbly. 

He turned around and tried walking away. He got only a few feet before Tony crashed into his back and wrapped his arms around Bucky's middle. He tried halfheartedly to remove Tony's arms with his own. 

" _I don't think that Bucky I'm sorry please i don't i didn't mean it i didn't mean it..._ " Tony kept mumbling into Bucky's back. 

Bucky stood there a while, staring unseeing straight ahead. Tony had started crying, Bucky could feel the tears on the back of his neck. He hadn't even worn a jacket when he came rushing out after Bucky, the idiot. 

Tony was still mumbling a litany of _please, bucky, sorry_ and _no i don't_ when Bucky sighed and turned around. Tony still wouldn't let go of him so Bucky enfolded him in arms too and dropped a kiss on the top of his head. 

They swayed like that for a couple of minutes. Tony's arms had lessened their desperate grip but his hands still fisted the back of Bucky's jacket. He put his hands on Tony's shoulders and gently pushed a little so he could see Tony's face. Tony avoided his eyes only for a second; when their eyes met, Bucky saw that his eyes were still wet. 

He couldn't resist, he leaned his head down and gently and slowly kissed first one eye and then the other. Tony blinked up at him with wet eyes but his body was looser now; he leaned into Bucky's arms, letting them support him. 

"I'm not scared of you Bucky, I swear," Tony said in a whisper. "And I don't think you're dumb-I don't. You're not. I lo-" Tony was working himself into a frenzy again, so Bucky caught his jaw in one hand and kissed him. 

Bucky had kissed a lot of people before. But this gentle deep kiss did what none of the others did. It undid him. 

He slowly withdrew from the kiss. Tony was slower to draw back where he had leaned up to kiss Bucky's mouth. "What were you saying?" Bucky asked in a whisper. 

"I love you," Tony said clearly, with no hesitation. 

Bucky drew him back into his arms and Tony tucked his head in the curve of Bucky's neck. "Yeah?" Bucky asked. Tony made an assenting noise and Bucky grinned into the curve of Tony's ear. 

Bucky's neck was warm where Tony face was still hidden and Bucky laughed a little when he realised why. "You blushing, Tony? You haven't done that in a while," he teased. Tony huffed and pulled his face back to glare him. 

It wasn't at all effective. Bucky smiled down at him and said, "I think I'm in love with you too." 

Tony frowned, "You don't have to say it back-" Bucky cut him off by kissing him again. After a while Tony said, "Okay--okay," 

"Okay?" Bucky teased. 

Tony smiled helplessly back at him. Bucky felt the urge to kiss him again when Tony spoke with a serious tone. "I have to tell you-about -about the arm-" 

"Honey, you don't have to -" Bucky said, the endearment falling automatically off his lips. 

"I have to," Tony insisted. "When you first said you would help, I said I could do it," he reminded him, half guilty, half reproachful. 

"Yeah, I remember," Bucky sighed. 

"I know I didn't explain myself clearly," Tony continued. "And then I thought you would only come and help for a couple of times and then get bored or tired. And when you _didn't_ I tried telling you again but-but I wanted to keep seeing you. I'm so sorry for not telling you." Tony looked up at him anxiously. 

"Flatterer," Bucky teased. "It's alright, I forgive you." Tony's face melted into relief. 

"Bucky, if we're doing this," Tony said cautiously. "Then it has to be different from the others." 

"Others?" 

"Your other flings." 

Bucky scowled. " _This_ is not a fling." He tightened his arms around Tony and pulled him towards himself. 

"You have to be serious about us," Tony insisted. 

"Alright," Bucky agreed, as he kissed Tony's still slightly warm cheek. 

"You can't see other people." 

"Okay." His temple. 

"You can't flirt with anyone else." 

"Okay." Tip of his nose. 

"And you have to bring me coffee everyday," 

"Done." Lips. 

\------------- 

Bucky and Tony ended up being pretty happy, if Bucky did so say himself, but there were a few flies in the soup. One was Steve. Steve was thrilled that Bucky had finally discovered monogamy and went around telling everyone that Bucky was so happy and his relationship was so successful because Bucky was _meant_ to be monogamous for the right person and that's why the playboy life didn't suit him at all. 

Bucky calls bullshit to that. (Maybe) 

Another fly was Sarah Rogers being initiated into the unholy union a few weeks after Bucky and Tony become a couple. The initiation ritual consisted of her sitting them down and giving them the sex talk, courtesy of their mothers. There were pictures and a test at the end. Bucky wouldn't get the image of Sarah Rogers putting a condom on a banana till his dying day. And so the unholy union became the _Unholy Trifecta_. 

Yet another problem was all his friends considered Tony their friend too, which was not a bad thing, except when their date nights got crashed because ' _we thought we were all hanging out together_ '. 

Tony also took it upon himself to tutor the rest of their friends in math and science. He's actually a good tutor, but of course he's a genius and would go off on advanced tangents sometimes. Bucky helpfully heads him off by sticking his tongue down his throat on these occasions, but nobody appreciated it, the ungrateful shits. 

But overall things were good so far, and they might possibly live happily ever after. 

Though he was going to have a hell of a time telling people how they met.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the mods at WinterIron Holiday Exchange for doing this. Concrit welcome.


End file.
